Electric vehicle giant Tesla appointed China Chief Tom Zhu to supervise its US manufacturing plants along with its North American and European sales operations, based on internal posts cited by Reuters.
Tesla’s posting revealed that Zhu kept his Greater China VP position and his highest sales senior executive position in the rest of Asia as of January 3, 2023.
Tesla’s highest-profile exec after CEO Musk
With the mentioned responsibilities, Zhu is now Tesla’s new highest-profile executive following CEO Elon Musk. Zhu will now directly manage delivery and operation in all automaker’s major markets and production centers.
Notably, Zhu’s reporting lines would maintain the separation of Tesla’s vehicle design and development. He will serve as Musk’s subordinate on the more immediate issues of managing worldwide sales and output.
Why was Zhu promoted?
Previous reports claim that Musk’s Twitter occupation influenced Zhu’s promotion to a global role. Some even speculated that Zhu would be replacing Musk as CEO.
Nonetheless, Zhu is a very qualified person for that role. He led Tesla’s Shanghai plant’s impressive recovery following stringent COVID-19 lockdowns in the country. According to those who work with him, Zhu was one of the first workers to stay at the factory during Shanghai’s two-month COVID lockdown as they attempted to keep it operational.
Furthermore, he led Tesla’s key production facilities as the automaker prepared to debut Cybertruck and a redesigned Model 3 sedan.
It is also worth noting that he also contributed to the record-breaking Model Y production at the factory in Austin, Texas.
For reference, below are the following Tesla managers under Zhu, as per the reporting lines:
· Jason Shawhan, director of manufacturing at the Gigafactory in Texas
· Hrushikesh Sagar, senior director of manufacturing at Tesla’s Fremont factory
· Joe Ward, vice president in charge of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
· Troy Jones, vice president of North America sales and service
Tesla’s Q4 performance
Tesla announced on January 2 that there were 405,278 successful deliveries in Q4 2022. However, it does not hit the projections of Wall Street.
For comparison, Tesla’s 2021 deliveries in the same period were 308,600 units.
Zhu has come a long way since his employment at Tesla in 2014. Tesla has grown significantly with his expertise in the field of engineering and automobiles. That said, it would not be surprising if he actually replaces Tesla’s current CEO in the future.
